UNH women's lacrosse wilts in second half vs. Vermont

Thursday

Apr 4, 2013 at 3:15 AM

By John Doylejdoyle@fosters.com Twitter: @JohnDoyle603

DURHAM — The University of University of New Hampshire women’s lacrosse team played at Cowell Stadium on Wednesday afternoon for the first time since 1999. Unfortunately for the Wildcats, they were not able to celebrate their return with a win.

Visiting Vermont took control in the second half with eight unanswered goals and handed UNH a 12-4 loss. The Wildcats fell to 3-7 and are still searching for their first America East Conference win at 0-2.

“We didn’t do the little things today to win,” UNH first-year coach Sarah Albrecht said. “Vermont definitely took advantage of us in that respect. We’re just going to go back to work, make sure we’re working on the little things.”

UNH’s Jenny Simpson scored three goals to extend her goal-scoring streak to 10 games, including one with nine seconds to go in the first half that cut the Catamounts’ lead to 3-2, which is where it stood at halftime.

“Vermont came to fight today,” Simpson said. “There were a few times on the field where we had mental lapses. I don’t know what it was, but they came out stronger today. That was proved with the final score.”

Simpson netted an unassisted goal less than five minutes into the second half to close within 4-3, but that’s as close as UNH got. UVM scored the next eight goals and put the game away.

“We knew it was going to be a very competitive game,” Catamounts coach Jen Johnson said. “I think we were pretty evenly matched and they battled hard. So did we. In the second half we capitalized on more of our offensive possessions and had some really big defensive stops.”

Laura McHoul recorded a goal and a pair of assists for UNH. Vermont (6-7, 1-2) has now won three consecutive meetings against the Wildcats.

UNH starting goalie Kathleen O’Keefe made nine saves before being lifted midway through the second half for Taylor Hurwitz, who made one save over the final 12:45.

Seven different players scored for Vermont, which was led by Sydney Mas with three goals and an assist, and Vanessa VanderZalm with three goals. UVM goalie Charlotte Lyons made 10 saves.

Vermont scored the game’s first three goals and held a 15-5 shot advantage in the first half. UNH finally got on the board with seven minutes left when McHoul found Simpson behind the defense at the top of the fan, where Simpson charged the net before ripping a shot into the cage.

O’Keefe collected a ground ball in the final minute of the first half, got the ball to McHoul on the other end of the field where she found Simpson in front of the net. Simpson fired a low shot into the cage with nine seconds to go, and UNH was right back in the game.

“I made a cut on my defender and (Laura) fed it,” Simpson said. “I caught it and finished it off.”

VanderZalm was awarded a free position on the final play of the half, but O’Keefe made the save to keep UNH within a goal.

After Vermont put the game away in the second half, McHoul scored UNH’s final goal with 1:29 to go in the game on a free-position attempt.

“I think we just decided to play at the end of the game,” Albrecht said. “I think we didn’t really come to fight back in the beginning of the game, and that kind of steamrolled. At the end we finally got things together.”

UVM recorded a 33-17 shot advantage for the game. UNH had the edge in ground balls (17-14) and draw controls (10-8).

Simpson is now two goals away from No. 100 for her career. She’ll get a chance at the century mark when the Wildcats visit Binghamton (N.Y.) on Saturday.

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